Site Visit Expansion to Certain L1A Petition Extensions
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) hosted a teleconference on April 24, 2014, to discuss the coming expansion of the Administrative Site Visit and Verification Program (ASVVP) to...
View ArticleProposed Rule for H-4 Employment Authorization Published
On May 12, 2014, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a proposed regulatory change in the Federal Register, which would make certain H-4 dependent spouses eligible to apply for...
View ArticleDistrict Court on H1B Specialty Occupation
A U.S. federal district court recently ruled on a case involving an issue that is a vital component of every H1B petition. The H1B classification is only appropriate for positions that qualify as...
View ArticleFY15 Diversity Visa Lottery Results Available
The results of the U.S. Department of State (DOS) diversity visa (DV) lottery for fiscal year 2015 (FY15) are now available. The DV lottery is a DOS program that runs on an annual basis. Eligibility...
View ArticleI-94 and Border Crossing History Available Online
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently announced the creation of a new website that gives travelers access to five years of their own I-94 arrival / departure and border crossing...
View ArticleProposed DHS Regulations for E-3 and H1B1 Nonimmigrants
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a proposed regulatory change related to the country-specific specialty occupation professionals categories, E-3 (for Australians) and H1B1 (for...
View ArticleImmigration Courts Experience Technical Problems
The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) experienced a massive "crash" of its computer systems in April 2014. The EOIR announced, however, that it has been able to recover all of the data,...
View ArticleI-485 Approval During International Travel
With the possibility of forward movement of cutoff dates for EB2 India in the August and/or September 2014 Visa Bulletin/s, there is the potential for approval of the application for adjustment of...
View ArticleOmbudsman’s Office Works to Improve the USCIS and Assist the Public
Maria Odom, the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, gave a presentation on various immigration issues on May 21, 2014. The setting was a meeting of the...
View ArticleCollege President Charged with Imposing Forced Labor on F-1 Students
The U.S. government has brought federal criminal charges against a college president for abusing foreign students. The charges allege that the president of Cathedral Bible College, Mr. Reginald Miller,...
View ArticleFinal H1B Cap Update for FY15
On Monday, June 2, 2014, the Murthy Law Firm received our first batch of returned H1B filings for cases that were not selected in this year's H1B lottery. More than two weeks have passed since our firm...
View ArticleFDNS Site Visits to Root Out Marriage Fraud in Family Based I-130 Cases
The Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate (FDNS) of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is responsible for conducting site visits, when needed, at the homes of married...
View ArticleImmigration Medical Examination Valid for One Year
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has confirmed that medical examinations required as part of the permanent residence ("green card") process will have a validity limit of one year....
View ArticleNewsFlash! Supreme Court Rules Against Broader Application of CSPA
On June 9, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow against hopes for a favorable interpretation of family unity-related provisions within U.S. immigration law. The Court held that the Board of...
View ArticleNewsFlash! July Visa Bulletin: EB2 India Advances to September 1, 2008
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin for July 2014 contains long-awaited good news for the employment-based, second preference (EB2) category for India. The EB2, India, cutoff date advances...
View ArticleJuly 2014 Visa Bulletin: Advancement for EB2 India and Philippines EB3 and FB1
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has released the July 2014 Visa Bulletin. The most significant movement is a nearly four-year leap forward in the employment-based, second preference (EB2) category...
View ArticleSummer Shortage of Visa Application Appointments for TCNs at U.S. Consulates...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has confirmed that the U.S. consular posts in Canada have an extremely limited number of appointments available this summer for third-country nationals (TCNs)...
View ArticleWhen to Apply for H1B Visa in India with Approved Cap-Subject H1B for FY15
With approvals coming in for cap-subject H1B petitions filed for fiscal year (FY) 2015 and those selected in the lottery, we have been receiving calls from H1B beneficiaries and employers, seeking...
View ArticleCBP Releases POE Checklist for TNs
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released a checklist now being utilized by officers to evaluate trade NAFTA (TN) applications. This is an apparent response to concerns over inconsistencies...
View ArticleCBP’s Strategy to Better Identify and Track Travelers at Border Crossings
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently released a fact sheet outlining the strategy that is used by its Entry / Exit Transformation (EXT) Office, which was created in May 2013. The goal...
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